Scottish immunotherapy company raises over £6m for innovative cancer treatments

Immunotherapy company TC BioPharm Ltd (TCB) announced a fundraising in excess of £6.25m.

Funds were provided predominately by the NIPRO Corporation (Osaka, Japan), and the Scottish Investment Bank, augmented by several family-based investment sources.

Much of the investment will be used to move TCB’s lead product ImmuniCell®towards phase III multinational clinical studies in the UK/EU and US. Data emerging from ongoing phase II studies is encouraging, initial patients are responding well, with an absence of treatment related toxicity or side effects.

TCB will progress the phase IIb clinical phase during much of 2017, with a transition to phase III studies towards the year end. Dr Artin Moussavi, TCB’s Chairman commented: “The Company has raised almost £9m over the last 12 months, this places TC BioPharm in a strong position to commence confirmatory studies late 2017, moving towards marketing authorization as efficacy data emerges in cancer patients”

Series-A funds will also be used to develop the next generation of safe CAR-T immuno-oncology products via TCB’s ImmuniCAR® platform. Using the innate ability of gamma-delta T cells to target cancer, TCB is developing a unique, patent-protected platform of innovative safe therapies designed to treat a wide-variety of tumours without the toxic side-effects seen in many current CAR-T products.

Commenting further on the investment, Kerry Sharp, Head of the Scottish Investment Bank, added “This fundraising represents an exciting step forward in the evolution of TC BioPharm. Scottish Enterprise has supported the company at each stage of its growth, from providing RSA grant support back in 2014 and SIB equity seed funding. We have continued to invest in the company’s future and are delighted to welcome the NIPRO Corporation as a new investor into both the company and Scotland. Their involvement in this deal is a positive endorsement of our vibrant life sciences sector and a great example of the opportunities Scotland’s market leading technology companies, such as TC BioPharm, can offer overseas investors.”

The series-A round is TCB’s first to include equity funds from a major pharmaceutical company, and represents a ‘coming of age’ for the company which is less than 3 years old (commencing operations in February 2014). Remarking on this significant inward investment for TCB and Scotland, Chief Executive Dr Michael Leek iterated that, “TC BioPharm and NIPRO share the same top-level goals to develop innovative therapies with potential to dramatically improve patient health and quality of life, I’m delighted to be working alongside like-minded individuals who place patient well-being at the forefront of our collective vision”.